O'Sullivan to carry Olympic torch

SPORTS DIGEST:OLYMPIC GAMES: FORMER 5000m world champion and the Irish team's Chef de mission Sonia O'Sullivan will carry the Olympic torch for the Dublin city centre leg of the relay on June 6th, writes CARL O'MALLEY.

O'Sullivan, a silver-medallist at Sydney 2000, will be one of around 40 torchbearers south of the border after a ceremonial handover between former Ireland Olympic boxers Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough at Carrickarnon, Co Louth.

The torch will travel by road from Carrickarnon to the headquarters of the Olympic Council of Ireland in Howth for a short ceremony and relay, before heading to Croke Park and onwards to the Garden of Remembrance.

O'Sullivan will then carry the torch to O'Connell Bridge before handing it over to another lucky bearer.

The two-and-a-half hour relay will cover 12km, with each participant carrying the torch for a 300-metre leg. Those yet to be confirmed will represent a cross-section of Irish society and sport, in accordance with IOC regulations.

From Dublin, the torch will travel north again for the final leg of a four-day tour – that will include visits to Derry, Newry, Lisburn, Bangor and Belfast – before heading to Scotland.

'Very good news' for Yuvraj

CRICKET:Yuvraj Singh's malignant lung tumour is almost out of his system following his first cycle of chemotherapy, the Indian cricketer said yesterday.

“Got very good news from Dr Lawrence today! The tumour is almost way out of the system,” he said on his Twitter account.

Yuvraj was told last year he had a golf ball-sized non-malignant tumour but that diagnosis was changed this month to a cancerous condition called “mediastinal seminoma”.

Taylor may fight American Underwoood in April

BOXING:World number one Katie Taylor could meet American lightweight Queen Underwood in Cork in April.

Taylor’s coach and dad, Pete Taylor, said that they were looking at April 21st as a possible date for the Ireland v USA clash on Leeside.

However, the 60kg duel could be contingent on how Underwood performs at the USA Olympic trials which are presently underway.

The five-time US champion recorded a 22-12 decision over Bertha Aracil on Monday and is now through to the quarter-finals at the trials in Spokane, USA.

Taylor narrowly beat Underwood en route to her third successive AIBA World lightweight in Barbados in 2010, and beat her twice in four days in Ireland in 2009.

Meanwhile, Taylor is due to box three times in three days at the Royal Hotel in her hometown of Bray on February 24th-26th.

The World and European champion will face Switzerland’s Sandra Brugger, Norway’s Ingrid Egner and Spain’s Jennifer Miranda.

President Rogge rejects India’s plea

OLYMPIC GAMES:International Olympic committee president Jacques Rogge has rejected India's calls to terminate Dow Chemicals' sponsorship deal with the IOC and 2012 London Games and called on the country to recognise Dow's contribution to the Olympic movement.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has demanded London 2012 terminate its deal with the US firm because of its links to Indias 1984 Bhopal gas disaster that killed thousands of people.

“The IOC . . . were aware of the Bhopal tragedy when discussing the partnership with Dow,” Rogge wrote in a letter to the IOA. “Dow had no connection with the Bhopal tragedy.

“Dow did not have any ownership stake in Union Carbide until 16 years after the accident and 12 years after the $470 million compensation agreement was approved by the Indian Supreme Court.”

Williams and Stevens out of Open

SNOOKER:Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens were knocked out in the last 16 of the Welsh Open to end home involvement in Newport yesterday.

Williams was beaten 4-1 by the in-form Ronnie O’Sullivan, who ominously appears to be hitting his stride, while Stevens fell to a 4-2 defeat to last year’s finalist Stephen Maguire.

Williams has failed to beat O’Sullivan in 10 years and that run was extended after the two-time world champion paid the price for errors in the fourth and fifth frames.

The match got off to a terrific start as the players compiled a century apiece from the first two frames.

O’Sullivan, fresh from his 23 ranking tournament victory in Germany earlier this month, made a sharp start as he forced Williams to spend the opening frame sat in his chair as he effortlessly compiled a break of 125 to take an early lead.

Freedom gives Dundalk a skip

HORSE RACING:Jessica Harrington has decided against running Steps To Freedom at Dundalk tonight. The horse will now head straight to next month's Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham.

The six-year-old completed a hat-trick of victories at Prestbury Park in November and he is now towards the head of the market for the festival curtain-raiser. Harrington had suggested her charge would make an appearance on the all-weather this week, but has had a change of heart.

The trainer said: “Everything is fine and we’ve just decided that we’ll go straight to Cheltenham.”

Tony McCoy fell foul of the controversial whip rules when picking up a four-day ban for using his whip with excessive frequency at Leicester yesterday. The multiple champion jockey had used all his strength to get Prince Of Pirates (9 to 4 fav) up on the line to dead-heat with Richard Johnson on Brackloon High (4 to 1) in the Cavalry Novices’ Limited Handicap Chase.